


thor odinson’s ode to the subway

by neville



Series: thorbruce shorts [11]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Adorable Bruce Banner, Fluff, M/M, Subways, Trains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-28
Updated: 2019-09-28
Packaged: 2020-10-30 03:09:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20807549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neville/pseuds/neville
Summary: Thor takes a trip on the subway.





	thor odinson’s ode to the subway

**Author's Note:**

> wrote this a while ago and forgot to post it. i've never been on the subway, but i HAVe been on the london underground, and as a non-local i have some kind of weird love for it... so decided to channel my love for underground trains through thor. please excuse if i got anything wrong, i tried to do as much research as possible!

**** Thor has never heard of a subway, doesn’t even know what one  _ is  _ when Bruce suggests that they take it somewhere. He is used to walking or flying or the Quinjet or the Bifrost; and there are trains on Asgard, too, but nothing like the beautifully constructed series of underground railway lines beneath New York that make up its subway system. He does not in any way understand how it works, and that fascinates him immensely, almost as much as Bruce’s intimate knowledge of the routes does. There are so many stops and so many lines and yet Bruce seems to know them all like the veins in his wrist that Thor can feel his heartbeat in.

“Where are we going?” Thor asks as Bruce steals Tony’s MetroCard from his desk, as well as a bagel. “I would very much like to see this subway.” 

Bruce laughs, but gently, not mockingly; as if he’s astonished that anyone could be excited to see the subway. Thor doesn’t understand why anyone  _ wouldn’t _ be. “Yeah, well, we’re going to see it alright,” he says, and he smiles when Thor lights up. 

He makes contingency plans in case Thor gets lost, and Thor doesn’t understand these at all until he enters the station; the beating heart of Manhattan is the people who flood its streets and they appear tenfold in the station, an endless flow of people in two directions: inside and out. Thor opts for taking Bruce’s hand: he navigates the chaos with admirable efficiency, shows Thor where to tap the MetroCard, points out their stop on a map and tells Thor where they might go later. He uses a lot of street names that Thor doesn’t know and can’t keep up with, but he listens anyway, an attentive student. Bruce talks about the subway with the subdued passion of a local: he curses it out, often, but in the tones of his voice Thor hears a real love for it. He thinks he can understand why. There’s something just utterly hypnotising about this ordinary chaos; it’s beautiful in indescribable ways, not just for the engineering feats that pull it off every day, but for the people for whom the subway seems a part of their souls. 

Thor listens closely to where they’re going, and follows the signs: he and Bruce get the W train to Ditmars Boulevard, squished onto the signs as  _ Blvd. _ , and they take the train three stops to 5th Avenue Station. There’s something calming about the rocking of the train on the tracks and the strange sound it makes as it trundles on forth. He has to stand, and he tries carefully not to crash into anybody when the train comes to its jolting halts at 49th and 57th. People usually have regard for their space and dislike it when Thor gets too close, and yet on this stiflingly warm train none of that etiquette matters; Bruce is compacted into his side, and jostled by people getting on and off. That’s usually the type of thing that would irritate him, Thor knows, and yet he’s stoically calm and unaffected. 

They get off, and parse their way through the crowds onto the street above. The sky seems to shine brighter upon their emergence, and Thor instinctively raises his hand to his face to block out its harsh rays. Bruce is more sensibly wearing sunglasses. 

“Did you like the subway?” Bruce asks, looking up. 

“Yes,” Thor says enthusiastically, taking Bruce’s hand again. It’s so small that Thor’s own almost envelops it completely, an eclipse. “It was very human. I liked it a lot. Can we go on it again?” 

Bruce smiles. In that moment, it feels brighter than the whole of the sun, and definitely more loving. “Okay. We can go get ice cream before we go back. Don’t tell Tony.” He says, then, finally, that the place they’re going to is Central Park Zoo; and if Thor thought that he had used all of his excitement up on the subway, well, he would be wrong. 


End file.
